One of the most exciting of the five championship races, on arguably the best card of the four-day Cheltenham Festival, March’s meeting at Prestbury Park will mark three years since a favourite last won the prestigious Queen Mother Champion Chase — the Ladies Day feature.
The legendary Altior was dominant in the 2018 and 2019 renewals, as the Nicky Henderson-trained horse won the two-mile, Grade 1 contest by seven lengths clear of Min on his first attempt before a much narrower victory over Politologue to defend his crown 12 months later.
Since then, though, the Champion Chase has not gone in the favour of those most fancied in the horse racing odds. In fact, you could argue that the Day Two highlight has not lived up to its billing, nor the excitement, in the last couple of years.
Altior, Defi Du Seuil and Chacun Pour Soi were set to go head-to-head in what looked likely to be one of the best races of the 2020 Festival. However, Henderson’s prized chaser and Mullins’ Chacun Pour Soi both pulled out through injury, leaving Defi Du Seuil as the heavy odds-on favourite.
But, the Philip Hobbs-trained horse flattered to deceive when many expected him to breeze his way to victory in the Champion Chase. Instead, the then seven-year-old finished a disappointing second-last as Paul Nicholls’ Politologue stormed home almost 10 lengths clear of stablemate Dynamite Dollars.
There were more late withdrawals to take the shine off things last year, as well. Altior was pulled out at the 11th hour for the second year in a row, while Politologue was also taken out of the race by Nicholls. That left Chacun Pour Soi as the dominant force in the ante-post marker, but he could fare no better than third as Henry de Bromhead’s Put The Kettle On edged home ahead of 11/1 shot Nube Negra to win from 17/2.
Fast forward to this year, and the Champion Chase is once again being tipped to be the best race of the Festival. Shishkin and Energumene are currently leading the way in the ante-post market, and their recent battle in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot, in which the former came out on top, has only added fuel to the fire ahead of the Day Two highlight.
However, since that thrilling race that had us all on the edge of our seats, there have been rumblings of Mullins redirecting Energumene, who lost his unbeaten record at Ascot, to the Ryanair Chase. We suppose it is a move that would make sense if the eight-year-old, who ran an almost prefect race, couldn’t beat a far from fluent Shishkin last month, then he stands little chance of doing so at Cheltenham.
Outside of the top two, it is incredibly hard to see the likes of Nube Negra, Chacun Pour Soi or Greaneteen even getting close to chasers with as much quality as the ante-post leaders. Energumene or no Energumene, there is no beating Shishkin in the Champion Chase. He’s seven from seven in chases and there’s no way he isn’t extending that record eight at Prestbury Park.
